{"id":25248,"date":"2025-11-29T07:56:11","date_gmt":"2025-11-29T07:56:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cndailynews.store\/?p=25248"},"modified":"2025-11-29T07:56:11","modified_gmt":"2025-11-29T07:56:11","slug":"boston-judge-accused-of-shielding-illegal-migrant-gets-brutal-news-6","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cndailynews.store\/?p=25248","title":{"rendered":"Boston Judge Accused Of Shielding Illegal Migrant Gets Brutal News"},"content":{"rendered":"
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A Boston, Massachusetts, judge accused of trying to help an illegal immigrant avoid arrest by ICE apparently had no idea about the escape plan and only inadvertently assisted in its execution, a state investigation has concluded.<\/p>\n

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Judge Shelley Richmond Joseph did let the illegal immigrant leave her courtroom and go back to the courthouse\u2019s lock-up area, where the migrant\u2019s lawyer and a court officer worked together to get the person out of the building.<\/p>\n

But Hearing Officer Denis J. McInerney\u2019s investigation discovered that Judge Joseph didn\u2019t know about such intentions. She only let the migrant go back to jail because she assumed he needed to talk to his counsel in private.<\/p>\n

An interpreter and a lawyer present made assertions to the contrary, which McInerney explicitly rejected as untrustworthy.<\/p>\n

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Instead, he believed what Judge Joseph and another counsel said, which was that the judge never heard of the escape plan.<\/p>\n

Even still, McInerney said that Judge Joseph should be publicly reprimanded for holding an off-the-record sidebar meeting, which went against the rules and made people think she was aiding the migrant escape.<\/p>\n

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\u201cI find that Judge Joseph did not know about \u2014 much less authorize \u2014 the escape plan and did not mislead court authorities following the incident. However, I find that she inadvertently created the appearance of impropriety and bias,\u201d McInerney concluded.<\/p>\n

Medina-Perez, who is forbidden from reentering the United States until 2027, appeared in court on drug possession charges and a fugitive warrant from Pennsylvania. An ICE agent was waiting outside the courthouse to take him into custody.<\/p>\n

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At the conduct review hearing, Judge Joseph\u2019s counsel emphasized that her client had not been proven guilty of any crime.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you were to walk down the street and take a survey of the people you meet, 100% of them would tell you Judge Joseph let an illegal immigrant out the back door of the district court,\u201d the attorney representing her stated in her opening remarks. \u201cFifty percent of them would say she\u2019s a criminal and should go to jail. Fifty percent would call her a folk hero for what she gave. But she definitely did it.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt has become such a part of local lore in Boston that the media, for the most part, have dropped the niceties of alleged or charged, and they report and make references to this incident as if a dozen people had seen Judge Joseph get off the bench, escorted the defendant to the door, gave him a hug and wished him Godspeed,\u201d the attorney for her said.<\/p>\n

David Jellinek, Medina-Perez\u2019s attorney, signed an immunity agreement with federal officials in exchange for his testimony against Joseph.<\/p>\n

Federal prosecutors claimed that Joseph instructed a court clerk to inform the ICE agent present to wait in the lobby, implying that if the defendant was released, he would exit through the courtroom entrance into the lobby.<\/p>\n

Later, Joseph reportedly instructed the courtroom clerk to \u201cgo off the record for a moment,\u201d resulting in the courtroom audio recording being turned off for 52 seconds.<\/p>\n

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When the audio record was resumed, Joseph announced that she would free the defendant. Federal prosecutors said in court documents that Medina-Perez\u2019s defense counsel requested to meet with the defendant downstairs, to which Joseph replied, \u201cThat\u2019s great. \u201cOf course.\u201d<\/p>\n

When the clerk informed the judge that an ICE officer was at the courthouse awaiting the defendant\u2019s release, Joseph allegedly replied, \u201cThat\u2019s OK.\u201d I will not allow them to enter here. B\u201dBut he has been released regarding this matter,\u201d according to court records.<\/p>\n

Prosecutors also stated that MacGregor led the defendant, his attorney, and an interpreter down to the courthouse prison. He then used his security access card to unlock the rear sally-port door, allowing the defendant to escape unnoticed.<\/p>\n

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The Justice Department decided to remove Joseph\u2019s charges in September 2022 after she reported herself to the Massachusetts Commission on Judicial Conduct (CJC) and confessed to key facts about the case.<\/p>\n

The Massachusetts CJC filed official accusations against Joseph, accusing him of \u201cwillful judicial misconduct\u201d and behavior \u201cprejudicial to the administration of justice.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\u00a0Getty Images This article may contain commentary which reflects the author’s opinion. A Boston, Massachusetts, judge accused of trying to help an illegal immigrant avoid arrest by ICE apparently had … <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":25249,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-25248","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cndailynews.store\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25248","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cndailynews.store\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cndailynews.store\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cndailynews.store\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cndailynews.store\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=25248"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cndailynews.store\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25248\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":25250,"href":"https:\/\/cndailynews.store\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25248\/revisions\/25250"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cndailynews.store\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/25249"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cndailynews.store\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=25248"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cndailynews.store\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=25248"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cndailynews.store\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=25248"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}